Police officers must now pay at least 50 million kyats in bribes to senior officials at the Ministry of Home Affairs to secure transfers and assignments at Myanmar passport offices and Yangon Airport. This surge in corruption follows the military council’s increasingly strict regulations on foreign travel and passport issuance, particularly after restricting foreign travel for young people eligible for military service. The tightening restrictions have led to widespread bribery throughout passport offices and airport operations.
Even regular police officers stationed at passport offices and Yangon Airport can earn hundreds of millions of kyats within a few months. The cost of securing these positions has steadily increased from around 20 million kyats in 2022 to 30 million in 2023, 40 million in 2024, and now reaches 50 million kyats. Despite the annual increase of 10 million kyats for position assignments, officers can easily recover their investment through various illegal earnings at these locations.
At passport offices, everyone from entry-level police guards to senior police officers receives monthly illegal earnings ranging from 5 million to tens of millions of kyats. The process of issuing passports through unofficial channels requires paying bribes at every step, with departmental authorities turning a blind eye to these practices. However, strict prohibitions remain in place against issuing passports to Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) participants and those with previous political offense records.
Aviation police and police intelligence officers stationed at the airport are especially well-positioned to receive substantial illegal income. Young men of military service age must pay around 6 million kyats to use the VIP Channel for departure. Officers who complete their airport duty assignments can typically afford to purchase vehicles worth around 100 million kyats. Senior officials at the Ministry of Home Affairs make no comment on the widespread bribery within departments, focusing only on preventing political activities and CDM participation among staff.
